"It may be granted that Debussy's melodic line is very fluid and elastic, like Wagner's "continuous melody," not definitely sectionalized by balanced phrases or set cadences. But it surely has its own right to existence—music being pre-eminently the art of freedom—and let us remember that Nature herself has melting outlines, shadowy vistas and subtle rhythms. Debussy, in fact, is the poet of the "indefinite" and the "suggestive" and his music has had great influence in freeing expression from scholastic bond."
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Walter Raymond Spalding
Walter Raymond Spalding (1865–1962) graduated from Harvard College with an AB in 1887; graduated from Harvard University with an AM in 1888. He taught music at Harvard from 1895–1932 and was Chair of the Music Department from 1906–1932. He is the author of the books Music: An Art and a Language (1920) and Music at Harvard: Historical Review of Men and Events (1935).
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